(2007-10-15) — A Vatican priest, relieved of his duties pending an investigation related to a televised video of him making advances toward a young man, revealed this weekend that he was only pretending to be homosexual to enhance his understanding of a sin that devastates so many in the clergy — lying.
“I was trying to improve my skill at psychoanalyzing dishonest priests,” said Monsignor Tommaso Stenico. “I’ve become quite concerned in recent years that too many are caught up in that deceptive lifestyle; in essence, living a lie. To relate to them, I had to become a liar myself, or rather, pretend to be a liar.”
“I could have pretended to lie about any number of sins,” he added. “But homosexuality is quite trendy these days, so I chose that.”
A Vatican spokesman noted that, “While homosexuality and dishonesty are both equally serious manifestations of man’s sinful nature, church teachings are less clear on the propriety of a priest simply pretending to engage in either sin.”
63 responses so far ↓
1 Ms RightWing, Ink // Oct 15, 2007 at 8:18 am
Got to watch those cameras. Better to tap because cameras won’t pick up the sound. Amen,to that brother
2 JamesonLewis3rd // Oct 15, 2007 at 8:26 am
God Bless America
3 boberinyetagain // Oct 15, 2007 at 8:30 am
How very odd. Probably better than pretending to be a pedophile though. All a matter of degrees I suppose
4 JamesonLewis3rd // Oct 15, 2007 at 8:32 am
That priest is either an imbecile or yet another example of an absence of personal responsibility.
5 Hawkeye // Oct 15, 2007 at 8:33 am
At least Tommaso is “coming out” about his dishonesty. Hey, did you notice how wide his stance is?
6 Hawkeye // Oct 15, 2007 at 8:35 am
Would that be considered an “Eye on the Friar” cam… or, an “Eye on the Liar” cam?
7 Maggie // Oct 15, 2007 at 8:45 am
Hawkeye….re#6
Holy-Homo ,Vatman.
8 JamesonLewis3rd // Oct 15, 2007 at 8:47 am
9 Just Ranting // Oct 15, 2007 at 9:13 am
John 8:1-9
10 Hawkeye // Oct 15, 2007 at 9:13 am
Maggie #7,
Good one!
11 MargeinMI // Oct 15, 2007 at 9:21 am
Maggie, You should really put together a stand-up comedy routine. You are on a ROLL lately! LOL!
My meet up with Mr. Beerme was delightful. (The Mrs. was working, so I didn’t get the pleasure of meeting her.) We enjoyed a couple of hours of intellegent conversation and raised a toast to SF. AND, I got my t-shirt!!!!! (OLA, the check’s in the mail. Yeah, like you’ve never heard that before. ;o) )
Mornin’ all!
12 Darthmeister // Oct 15, 2007 at 10:18 am
Given that 87% of all pedorastism (having sex with a post-adolescent child) charges in the Catholic Church over the last twenty or so years have been gay related, for whatever reason the Roman Catholic priesthood has become a safe haven for homosexual predators. I can’t believe these people are suffled around and coddled by Catholic bishops given what the Scripture clearly says about virulent homosexuality and molesting children and adolescents.
I guess it didn’t take long for the word to get out that there was a happy hunting ground for gay men in the Catholic Church. Throw ‘em all out since many gay priests apparently can’t exercise self-control. Obviously the oath of celibacy doesn’t work with these people. Homosexuals make up less than 2% of the American population yet they are responsible for 87% of the pedorastism charges in the Catholic Church! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this stuff out.
13 Darthmeister // Oct 15, 2007 at 10:18 am
… push.
14 Darthmeister // Oct 15, 2007 at 10:24 am
Scott, are you trying to say maybe the “good” Monsignor was operating under the mathematical assumption that two negatives yield a positive … that is engaging in homosexuality plus engaging in pedorastism yield the positive result of “enlightenment”? Well, maybe liberal enlightenment.
BTW, pedorastism has to do with sexual laisons between an adult and an ADOLESCENT … i.e. an underaged teenager.
Pedophilia has to do with sexual laisons between an adult and a pre-pubescent or pre-adolescent child.
15 conserve-a-tips // Oct 15, 2007 at 10:28 am
Maggie, Seinfeld ain’t got nothin’ on you!!! You’re on a roll.
Personally, I think that he has been watching too much Gilbert and Sullivan. He envisions himself to be the Pirate of Penance singing, “♪I’m never, never really gay…. ”
(other priests) “What never?”
“No Never”
(Other priests) “What never?”
“Well…Hardly everrrrrrrr.”
(Other priests) “He’s hardly ever, ever gayyyyy!… So give three cheers and one cheer more for the hardy Father in the Pinafore!” ♪♪
16 Darthmeister // Oct 15, 2007 at 10:33 am
… of course the legal prescription for this “problem” is for liberals to formally legalize pedorastism and homosexuality. This would have the intended consequence of decriminalizing* said activities and hence no more people would be tempted to engage in homosexuality or pedorastism. Problem solved and the Catholic Church (or any other Church) is spared the public embarassment despite what the Scriptures might have to say about homosexuality or pedorastism/pedophilia.
If there is anything liberal Democrats has taught us, it’s far better to lower your moral standards and engage in the most basest behavior than it is to be a hypocrite when embracing a higher standard of moral behavior. At least you’ll get re-elected as a Democrat reprobate.
*This is the same argument used by those “libertarians” who want to legalize some pretty hard-core psychotropic drugs.
17 da Bunny // Oct 15, 2007 at 10:38 am
“Pretending to be gay”…yeah, right. Another out-of-control pervert hiding behind the robes of priesthood. Knowing how the Catholic Church has responded to such “priestly” behavior in the past, maybe Stenico will get a promotion for this!
18 conserve-a-tips // Oct 15, 2007 at 10:47 am
Darthmeister, re #16: No, no. The Democrats will decriminalize pedophelia but will make sure that they don’t smoke while they are engaging in it!!!
19 RedPepper // Oct 15, 2007 at 10:51 am
“Oh yes, I’m the great pretender
Laughing and gay like a clown
I seem to be
What I’m not, you see
I’m wearing my heart like a crown
Pretending that you’re still around”
20 JamesonLewis3rd // Oct 15, 2007 at 11:13 am
Ah, yes…..The Platters…..What. A. Tune.
([sigh] the good old days)
21 gafisher // Oct 15, 2007 at 11:14 am
Darth Re#12: “I can’t believe these people are shuffled around and coddled by Catholic bishops given what the Scripture clearly says …”
Consider what Scripture says about vows of celibacy and the rest sort of falls into place.
22 Darthmeister // Oct 15, 2007 at 11:20 am
These are the whackjobs on everstink’s side of the aisle … though he’ll disavow any ideological association with them. At least Code Pink is trying to be intellectually honest given their anti-Iraq War views … but they’re still whackos.
Here are more anti-war whackos who are openly anti-American.
BTW, a couple of weeks ago Reuters admitted to the commie link between the anti-war groups ANSWER and AWARE and the openly communist group Workers World Party.
Do you think it’s safe now to say these Americans don’t support the troops? Obviously these people’s “patriotism” is not based on supporting America as she really is but rather based on some left-wing utopian expectation of a future America that will never exist.
23 Darthmeister // Oct 15, 2007 at 11:28 am
gafisher, you’re absolutely right about that. The same general principle applies. In fact Paul says it’s better to marry than to burn with lust. The New Testament has a very unfavorable take on oaths, warning us instead to simply let our yes be yes and our no be no.
But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.” James 5:12
This is one reason I’ve always rejected the unwise teaching of the Roman Catholic Church of first requiring their priests to remain unmarried and secondly taking a vow (or oath) of celibacy - for such a one falls under fall greater condemnation if (when) he sins.
24 JamesonLewis3rd // Oct 15, 2007 at 11:40 am
The word was coined by Sir Thomas More in his Latin work Utopia (1516), as a pun on two Greek words, eutopos (‘good place’) and outopos (‘no place’).
Visions and promises of creating a “Utopia” were fairly prevalent at the time of the colonization of North America, much like today, although this was usually a smokescreen for amassing both personal wealth, much like today, and effortless booty for the Crown just because they wanted it, much like today-for some reason William Penn comes to mind, not sure why, my American History Brain Cell fell out of my left earhole the other day and my cat, Joe, sprung into action and slapped it into The Twilight Zone or something.
25 Ms RightWing, Ink // Oct 15, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Seems like there is an awful lot of gay priests. How about lesbian nuns and/or transgendered choir boys.
Choir boy? Is that like a Lawn Boy or a John Boy?
Oh, I’m sorry. Just got a little punchy on fermented holy water.
26 conserve-a-tips // Oct 15, 2007 at 1:23 pm
James, with that description of your lost brain cell, I am wondering if you are in the Twilight Zone.
27 random // Oct 15, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Takes one to know one.
28 random // Oct 15, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Check out the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence…
29 Beerme // Oct 15, 2007 at 2:12 pm
MargeinMI,
Thanks for the support but I’m not sure my half of the conversation was intelligent…Yours certainly was, though!
Smart people, these Scrapplers!
30 onlineanalyst // Oct 15, 2007 at 2:22 pm
I guess that this is one of the topics where those of us who follow the Roman Catholic tradition are not invited to the communion comedy club.
I can assure you that the fostering or practicing of homosexuality or pederasty is not part of our church doctrine. Those who abuse their positions in the clergy are an abomination in the sight of the Church.
It is disappointing to read or hear the misinformation that is perpetuated by those unfamiliar with the Roman Catholic faith.
31 prettyold // Oct 15, 2007 at 2:40 pm
For once ,wouldn’t it be nice to see the Vatican allow this Stenico to “pretend” to go to prison.
Actually, if that had been my child he approached ,Stenico would be pretending to be Dead.
32 prettyold // Oct 15, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Wouldn’t it be refreshing,to hear of a Priest ,who had broken his vows by having sex with a Woman?
33 conserve-a-tips // Oct 15, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Online: I hope that you don’t take the comments here as an indictment against the Catholic Church, but rather as statements regarding one “priest’s” (and I use that term loosely) personal choice. We know that this is not the accepted practice of the church, just by virtue of the fact that this individual was defrocked. To me, the comments here are no different from the ones made about Ted Haggard by this same community - comments that were aimed at Ted and not at Protestants.
Please accept my apologies if I have offended you.
34 boberinyetagain // Oct 15, 2007 at 3:12 pm
online, you must agree that when such behaviour was first noted (long, long ago) the church did not act very church-like. Rather, they covered it up and denied it.
Then, when caught red handed the Bishops flew to Rome and it took 3 days for them to decide that they were more or less againat such behavior most of the time. A bold statement that.
They left themselves wide open for our comments and even wider for God’s…
35 prettyold // Oct 15, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Ola , I ,too, want to say ,I’m not tarring all Catholics with the same brush . I’m positive no one is more offended and disgusted by this man’s actions than the good Catholic people of the world.These bad Priests are probably 1% of the total Priests.
I imagine the figures would be the same for Ministers of other faiths .There again, our wonderful media do not make the same sort of fuss over a Baptist of Lutheran Minister. I think this is deliberate. People like Hugo Chavez love nothing more than tearing down the Catholic Church.
Cathiolics are like Republicans ,we’re supposed to be better,more perfect.What is fine for Clinton would be an unforgivable sin ,if done by George Bush.
Only one Catholic is responsible for Stenico’s actions . Stenico.
36 prettyold // Oct 15, 2007 at 3:36 pm
bober must be sin free , he is nearly always the first to cast a stone. and of course ,none of the stones are as big as he says they are.
37 RedPepper // Oct 15, 2007 at 4:08 pm
onlineanalyst #30: If I may chime in here …
I was raised in the Roman Catholic church; many of my family are deeply involved in the Church, including one relative who is a nun; my older brother was a choir boy. I think I can claim some familiarity with the faith.
I have heard stories about these problems (pederasty, pedophilia, as well as heterosexual involvements by priests) occurring in the Church my entire life, and I also have some personal knowlege of a few examples. Overall, the people in authority within the Church who were responsible for dealing with these problems have instead made them even worse, imo.
I have no animus against the Catholic Church, btw, and I believe that the same is true of the other posters here. Bad behavior, otoh, should never be given a pass.
Just my 2 cents.
38 boberinyetagain // Oct 15, 2007 at 4:12 pm
pretty, fine, shoot the messenger
Like I caused any of this, or I covered it up or I couldn’t actually come out and say it wasn’t/isn’t right.
yep, it’s my fault. I’m also the only one who made any disparaging remarks or even had any such thoughts.
it’s all good…
39 RedPepper // Oct 15, 2007 at 4:37 pm
prettyold: I was going to include a reference to John 8:1-9 in my post, but I left it out in the interest of brevity, and also because Just Ranting had posted it earlier.
Considering that I’ve disagreed with boberin strenuously & quite often, I feel I’d be remiss if I didn’t defend him on this one. I don’t see anything that bob said today that’s out of line; fact is, I thought he was fairly restrained.
Make that four cents. This keeps up, we could get into some real money here …
40 RedPepper // Oct 15, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Hello, boberin! Pardon me for speaking of you in the 3rd person when you were right here …
41 boberinyetagain // Oct 15, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Red,
No worries, it is a rare day indeed that I’m not crucified let alone being defended a bit. It often doesn’t matter what I day, folks just like to hate it.
I’m ok with that but appreciate the gesture just the same!
42 boberinyetagain // Oct 15, 2007 at 4:51 pm
shove…
43 boberinyetagain // Oct 15, 2007 at 4:52 pm
what i “say” make a bit more sense…
44 RedPepper // Oct 15, 2007 at 5:14 pm
boberin: As someone (?) once said,
“Don’t worry boys, we’ll weather this storm of approval and come out as hated as ever!”
45 Fred Sinclair // Oct 15, 2007 at 5:19 pm
A sound byte on Rush’s show of Mrs. Bill Clinton - She says she fully supports FISA, in so doing she fully supports the torture and/or murder of kidnapped American soldiers by Al-Quida Terrorists.
There are Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) laws that require a warrant authorizing wiretapping which may give us the information we need to rescue the hostages. That they may be being tortured or beheaded is irrelevant. The warrant comes first. And she fully supports FISA. A recent warrant took ten hours to acquire. I would propose that ten hours with a terrorist torturer - the phones with the needed informtion are no longer being used.
Heirborn Ranger
46 everthink // Oct 15, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Larry Craig says he’s a Conservative, and he’s gonna stay a Conservative!
Way to stand up for those Republican values, Senator!
Have you ever considered the priesthood?
ET
47 everthink // Oct 15, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Wow!
Now that’s some extrapolating!
Keep up the great work, genius!
48 prettyold // Oct 15, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Don’t give yourself so much cred bober, you are not the messenger here. but if you go back to the top m,you are the first “stone” ,the first crack. not a joke ,not satire, just a nasty little snipe. And ,give me a break ,please, you have never been crucified ,and you demean the Crucifixtion of the Lord when you claim such a thing.
As I have said before ,you just get right in there with the nasty putdowns ,then when you are called on it ,you whine how everyone is being mean to you. Oh, but you are used to it so you’ll take your rocks and go home.
49 prettyold // Oct 15, 2007 at 6:23 pm
RedPepper, You have a perfect right to defend bober if you so chose,just don’t turn your back on him . He is a Lib to the bone,and he has never seen the forrest for the trees.
And that is supposed to be :
Oh-ho- ho,Yes! I’m the great prete-hender.
50 da Bunny // Oct 15, 2007 at 6:35 pm
My comment about Stenico possibly being “promoted” was a sarcastic slam against the power structure of the Catholic Church that, in the past, swept the problems of sexual abuse by priests under the rug and shuffled the miscreants around to other parishes, etc., in an effort to hide and deny the issue. I certainly wasn’t slamming Catholics, or their faith. I’d be critical of any church power structure that failed to deal effectively with such an issue.
51 RedPepper // Oct 15, 2007 at 7:37 pm
prettyold #49: If I’m going to criticize boberin for the things he says that I disagree with, I should also be willing to identify issues that I agree with him on, imho. After all, I could simply remain silent - in each case - which is precisely what I do if I believe that someone is being deliberately offensive.
There are former acquaintances of mine that I haven’t spoken to in years …
52 Darthmeister // Oct 15, 2007 at 7:44 pm
bober “crucified” … buwahahahahahaha!
Now he’s suffering from a messiah complex! Poor pariah, he!
I put the total blame for the pederastism/pedorastism on the Roman Church leadership here in America. It has whored itself in good part to the more permissive culture of liberal America. I’m sure Catholics in general are completely repulsed by this disgusting practice , a practice whereby mostly homosexual priests crept into the faith like so many wolves in sheep’s clothing and worked their evil on youths.
If there are fingers to be pointed it is at the Roman Catholic mid-level leadership and the gay pederastic men who used the Catholic church as their happy hunting ground. Liberals still haven’t wrapped their minds around the fact that people who represent such a miniscule part of the American population was responsible for 87% of the pederastism that did occur in the name of gay sex.
Study: People believe gossip even when evidence contradicts
Sounds like liberals to me, always falling for conspiracy theories based on mere gossip and hyperbolic conjecture.
53 everthink // Oct 15, 2007 at 8:34 pm
“These are the whackjobs on everstink’s side of the aisle”.
What is a “wackjob”? You ask.
Well, if you really want to know the “truth”, you have to come to here the Extrapolation Station.
Once you are all extrapolated up, you will be issued a stick (a Whacker) to beat your choice of the many very large straw men, which might better be called Darthmen, these are most often assembled in great detail by “the meister“ who stands them up on a base of road apples.
The beating given to these straw men is called a “wackjob!
ET
54 Darthmeister // Oct 15, 2007 at 9:36 pm
From the often hilarious satire site, IowaHawk:
Dear ALBERT GORE JR. :
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I am also pleased to tell you that as a winner, you have been pre-approved for membership in the Nobel Peace Player’s Club, offering exclusive money-saving benefits available only to laureates like you. Please take a few minutes to look over the enclosed enrollment materials. At only $299.95 per year, I’m sure you’ll agree that membership is a bargain at twice the price! Here are just some of the benefits you’ll receive:
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Plus, you’ll receive the exclusive Nobel Peace Player’s Club GoldCard entitling you to discount air travel and 5-star hotel accomodations from Kyoto to Darfur.
55 everthink // Oct 15, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Have you noticed the drought yet, dipstick?
56 everthink // Oct 15, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Have you noticed the drought yet, dipstick?
I case this is a double post, let me add this question: Do you remember the reaction of the other heathen when Noah warned them of the coming flood?
JL3, Gore is like Noah, get it only without the ark, get it?
57 Ms RightWing, Ink // Oct 15, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Yup, but the liberals never quit trying to prove gay is good if yo mama made you that way, better yet if God made you that way
http://www.newsnet5.com/family/14345527/detail.html
58 gafisher // Oct 15, 2007 at 11:09 pm
E.T. Re#56: “Gore is like Noah, get it only without the ark, get it?”
Gore’s also missing the prophetic calling and the sure knowledge of the Truth. On the other hand, he’s got the rainbow faction behind him (watch out!) and tends to embarrass himself with whine.
59 everthink // Oct 15, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Easy there Jerry,
Have you got inside info on Gore’s calling, how about his knowledge of The Truth?
60 everthink // Oct 16, 2007 at 12:02 am
Ms Rightwing, is that one of Dummo’s straw men, or did you make that one for yourself?
I’ve never tried to prove gay is good. I don’t think gay is good. I do believe if gays are citizens, they should be treated fully as such.
61 Ms RightWing, Ink // Oct 16, 2007 at 12:34 am
One day, the seven dwarfs left to go work in the mine. Snow White stayed home to prepare lunch. When she arrived at the mine with the lunch, she saw that there had been a terrible cave in. Tearfully, and fearing the worst, Snow White began calling out, hoping against hope that some of the dwarfs had survived.
“Hello, hello,” she called. “Can anyone hear me? Hello” For quite a while there was no answer. Losing hope, Snow White called again, “Hello. Is anyone down there?” Just as she was about to give up all hope, there came a faint voice from deep in the mine. The voice said, “Vote for Hillary. Vote for Hillary.” Snow White, somewhat relieved screamed out,
“Oh, thank god. Dopey is still alive.
62 JamesonLewis3rd // Oct 16, 2007 at 5:48 am
‘They named it Futalognkosaurus dukei after the Mapuche words for “giant” and “chief,” and for Duke Energy Argentina, which helped fund the skeleton’s excavation…..the excavated spinal column weighed about 9 tons when excavated. One neck vertebra alone measured more than 3 feet high.’
63 gafisher // Oct 16, 2007 at 6:23 am
E.T. Re#59: “Truth” is something that’s well, not false, and a prophetic calling is an assignment from God to speak the truth on a certain matter or matters.
Since Gore’s recent career in the entertainment field has been woven more tightly than his own psyche around what the world’s leading scientific expert in the matter calls “ridiculous” and the ravings of “people who don’t understand how the atmosphere works” (an assessment shared by most scientists in the field) it’s pretty clearly not “truth” and, without that, equally clearly not prophetic.
Gore may have purchased or appointed friends in the political wing of NOAA, but he and Noah stand worlds apart.
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